Thread by @MatthewFoldi

NEW from me @TheSpectator:

It's clear that legislation from #SC03's @RepJeffDuncan, #KY02's @RepGuthrie, #AZ09's @RepGosar, and #KY01's @RepJamesComer just forced the Biden admin's hand in a VERY big way.

Let's see what went down this week...

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(1/xx)

The @HouseGOP launched an all-out war on the remaining Covid vaccine mandates being enforced by the Biden administration. So far they have won some important concessions, but are pushing for more.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(2/xx)

I talked with several key players involved in the legislative battle, which they claim forced the Biden admin to finally declare an end to some of its coronavirus emergency powers later this year. @HouseGOP, however, wants them shut down now.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(3/xx)

The House of Representatives will be taking up a flurry of legislation, which includes the Freedom for Health Care Workers Act, introduced by #SC03's @RepJeffDuncan, which would repeal the Covid vax mandate for Medicare and Medicaid workers.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(4/xx)

#KY01's @RepJamesComer is introducing the SHOW UP Act to revert all federal agencies to 2019 telework, #KY02's @RepGuthrie introduced the Pandemic is Over Act, and #AZ09 @RepGosar introduced a resolution to terminate the national health emergency

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(5/xx)

#OH07's @RepMaxMiller, who co-sponsored Duncan’s legislation, told me he is “glad” that @HouseGOP is prioritizing repealing the “Biden administration’s draconian vaccine mandate for our healthcare heroes.”

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(6/xx)

After taking back the House, Republicans successfully repealed the military’s Covid vax mandate. #CA48's @DarrellIssa, an Army vet who helped lead the push, told me the work is just getting started to undo the damage that the vaccine mandates did.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(7/xx)

#CA48's @DarrellIssa, a champion of oversight for House Republicans, told me that the military covid vax mandates were a “signature abuse of presidential power.”

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(8/xx)

The legislation Republicans are moving on, which Hill sources concede could face long odds of passing in the Democratic-held Senate, tap into a sense of frustration that Republicans across the House conference are feeling.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(9/xx)

“As a father of three young girls, I strongly believe parents, not the federal government, know what is best for their children. It is dangerous and immoral to allow the Biden administration...

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(10/xx)

...to leverage access to education to enforce their authoritarian mandates.” #IN03's @Jim_Banks told me.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(11/xx)

#TN05's @RepOgles, a freshman member who rose to national prominence for defying Covid vaccine mandates from OSHA while mayor of Maury County, Tennessee, told me that the Republicans’ bills offer him a chance to fulfill core campaign promises.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(12/xx)

“In my previous role, I told my constituents that I would rather personally go to jail than allow the citizens and local businesses of my county to be forced into following vaccination and mask mandates.” #TN05's @RepOgles told me.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(13/xx)

While Republicans like #TN05's @RepOgles and #OH07's @RepMaxMiller describe these measures to immediately end all pandemic-era policies as common sense and as “listening to the people,” there is no sense that the Biden admin agrees.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(14/xx)

Ironically, President Joe Biden himself has previously declared the pandemic “over.”

However, in the statement of admin policy the Biden admin sent out yesterday, he says that he strongly disagrees with the @HouseGOP bills.

https://twitter.com/MatthewFoldi/status/1620208249260867589

(15/xx)

In an email the White House sent to congressional offices, reviewed by @TheSpectator, @OMBPress attacked the bills being proposed by @HouseGOP, declaring several of them to be a “grave disservice to the American people.”

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(16/xx)

Nevertheless, the admin did confirm that it will roll back some of the pandemic emergency declarations later this year. Hill Republicans view this as a win for them, but also as a way for the administration to give Democrats cover.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(17/xx)

Biden’s announcement, which some Republicans view as an implicit concession that their bills are making major policy changes, does not affect #SC03's @RepJeffDuncan's bill for federal health care workers.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(18/xx)

Republicans do see it as an acknowledgment that the legislation from #KY02's @RepGuthrie and #AZ09's @RepGosar forced the admin's hand. #LA01's @SteveScalise even thanked the admin for following @HouseGOP's lead on forcing an end to the pandemic.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(19/xx)

However, the Biden administration’s charge of “wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the healthcare system” if the Republicans’ legislative agenda were to pass is not convincing members.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(20/xx)

“The Biden White House continues to play politics with Covid-19 and make a mockery of science and public health...We all know the pandemic is over — it’s time for Washington to start acting like it," #MS04's @RepEzell told me.

thespectator.com/topic/inside-r…

(21/xx)